DHS Sec. Kristi Noem: Arrests coming in St. Paul church protest
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Protesters and activists walked into a St. Paul church on Sunday, disrupting an ongoing service due to the pastor’s possible link as an ICE lead in Minnesota.
Tuesday night, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said arrests will be made "in the next several hours."
‘There will be arrests’
What they're saying:
Noem told Newsmax Tuesday night the group that disrupted the service at Cities Church in St. Paul will be held accountable.
"There’s going to be arrests, in the next several hours. There will be arrests tied to that, and people will be brought to justice for how they violated the law in that situation," Noem said.
She did not say how many arrests will be made, or give an exact timeline.
Activists call for pastor to resign over ICE leadership conflict
Twin Cities community members and activists gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center on Tuesday to call for the resignation of the pastor at a St. Paul church due to his possible connection to ICE.
Activists call for David Easterwood’s resignation
What we know:
Twin Cities community members and activists gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center on Tuesday to call for the resignation of the pastor at a St. Paul church due to his possible connection to ICE.
Nekiva Levy Armstrong, a Twin Cities civil rights attorney and ordained reverend since 2016, and Monique Cullers, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, were among a group of community activities Tuesday to call for the resignation of David Easterwood as pastor of Cities Church in St. Paul. They also co-organized Sunday’s protest in the church.
Cities Church responds
The other side:
Officials with Cities Church in St. Paul issued the following statement on their website on Tuesday, in response to Sunday's protest.
"On Sunday, January 18, a group of agitators jarringly disrupted our worship gathering. They accosted members of our congregation, frightened children, and created a scene marked by intimidation and threat. Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated. Invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus — or any other act of worship — is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation.
We welcome respectful dialogue about present issues, and about how the realness of Jesus, as revealed in the Bible, provides the only final answers to the world’s most complex and intractable problems."